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Superman lives: Kevin Pillar's top 5 catches

Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Kevin Pillar is known as "Superman" for a reason. His catches are just, well, super.

The Toronto Blue Jays center fielder added another victim to his ever-growing highlight reel Tuesday night by showing no regard for his body to rob Arizona's Peter O'Brien of extra bases with a running wall-smashing catch. Pillar appeared shaken up on the play but stayed in the game since, of course, walls aren't his kryptonite.

Pillar hasn't won a Gold Glove yet - mostly because Kevin Kiermaier also plays center in the American League - but make no mistake: The 27-year-old is worthy of the honor, as evidenced by his incredible resume. Here's the other top five catches of Pillar's career.

5. Late Break - ALDS Game 5

Pillar initially read the ball wrong but recovered by dashing in at a top speed of 21 mph to rob Josh Hamilton of a bloop single in the biggest of circumstances. Consider this: The Rangers were up 2-1 when he makes this play. If that ball drops, perhaps Game 5 changes course, and "The Inning," as it's come to be known in baseball lore, never happens.

4. Camden crash - April 10, 2015

Chris Davis hit 47 home runs in 2015. He probably thought he had No. 48 here, or at least a triple, until Pillar showed up and snagged this sure-fire hit. In true Pillar fashion, he nearly destroyed his body smashing into the wall and lost his hat, but what should he care? He got the out.

3. The backhand - Sept. 13, 2015

Don't tell Pillar that Yankee Stadium's center field is huge. Here, he covers 73.7 feet of ground at a top speed of 17 mph and still manages to time his leap-and-tumble backhand catch perfectly. The most impressive part: His sunglasses stayed on.

2. Smash - ALCS Game 3

You could make an argument that Tuesday's wall-crashing catch was better than this one from last year's ALCS. They're similar in many ways, so let's compare: On Tuesday, Pillar traveled 72.1 feet with a route efficiency of 97.8 percent and made the catch mid-leap moments before slamming into the wall. In Game 3 of the ALCS, Pillar flew 99.2 feet to make the grab just two steps before smashing into the wall face-first - no time to brace for impact - but did so with a route efficiency of just 92 percent. Both catches came at critical moments for his team and both saw him laying his body on the line to record the out. There's no wrong answer here.

1. Robbery - April 15, 2015

If Kevin Pillar were a painter, then this is his Mona Lisa. Forget StatCast here, and just appreciate the fact that Pillar times everything perfectly off the bat, climbs a 10-foot fence - a 10-foot fence that's removable, so not all that sturdy - then reaches his glove over the wall and casually steals Tim Beckham's home run after it has already left the yard. There aren't many human beings alive who can do this. Then again, we call Pillar "Superman," so who's to say if he even is one of us?

(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)

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